Ver.24. ἀπολ.: the present participle, indicating that Festus broke in upon the speech, cf. iv. I.—ey. τῇ Φϕ.: raising his voice, because interrupting in surprise and astonishment, and no doubt with something of impatience if not of anger (Chrysostom). — Matyy: a hyperbolic, but not a jesting expression ; the mention
23---26.
σι
eis µανίαν περιτρέπει. 25. ὁ δέ, OU µαίνοµαι, φησί, κράτιστε Φῆστε,
GAN’ ἀληθείας καὶ σωφροσύνης ῥήματα ἀποφθέγγομαι.
26. ἐπίστα-
ται γὰρ περὶ τούτων ὁ βασιλεύς, πρὸς ὃν καὶ] παῤῥησιαζόμενος
AahG?+ λανθάνειν γὰρ αὐτόν τι τούτων οὐ πείθοµαι οὐδέν: οὐ γάρ
1 και after προς ur is omitted by W.H., following B, Boh., Arm., but retained by
W.H. marg., Weiss, Hilg.
3λανθ. yap αντον κ.τ.λ., Wendt decides in favour of T.R. here, with SSHLP. In B 36, 69, 137, 180, τι is omitted, so by W.H. text, Weiss, Blass; in ΜΕΑΕ 13,
‘ ovSey is omitted, so by Lach.
NB read ουθεν, see Winer-Schmiedel, p. 61.
Blass in B text, following Flor., reads ονδεν yap Τοντων avrov λανθανει, and omits
ov γαρ ... TOUTS.
not only of a resurrection, but the ex- pressed belief that this Christ Whom Festus could only describe as “one who was dead,’”’ xxv. 19, should bring light not only to Jews but even to Gentiles, to Romans like himself, was too much— such a belief could only result from a disturbed brain, cf. xvii. 32 for the effect of the announcement of a resurrection and a judgment on the polished Athenians, cf. St. John x. 20, where our Lord’s words provoked a similar pronouncement by the Jews, the learned Jews of the capital. µαίνεσθαι: “qui ita loquitur ut videatur mentis non compos esse,” Grimm, ¢f. xii. 15, 1 Cor. xiv. 23, oppo- site to σωφροσύνης ῥήματα ἀποφθ. (see also Page’s note) ; Sa the passage in Wisd. v. 3, 4, and Luckock, Footsteps of the Apostles, etc., ii., p. 263. — 7a πολλά σε γράμματα: “thy much learning,” R.V., giving the force of the article per- haps even more correctly, “that great learning of thine”. It is possible that the words may refer simply to the learn- ing which Paul had just shown in his speech, of which we may have only a summary, and ypapp. may be used of the sacred writings from which he had been quoting, and to which in his utter- ances he may have applied the actual word, and so Festus refers to them by the same term, cf. 2 Tim. iii. 15. Others refer the word to the many rolls which St. Paul had with him, and which he was so intent in studying. It is possible that the word may be used here as in John vii. 15, of sacred learning in general, of learning in the Rabbinical schools, and perhaps, as it is employed by a Roman, of learning in a more general sense still, although here including sacred learning = µαθήµατα, cf. Plat., Afol., 26 D. If books alone had been meant βιβλία or βίβλοι would have been the word used. — περιτρέπει εἰς µανίαν: “doth turn thee to madness,” R.V.,
cf. our English phrase “his head is turned,” literally “turn thee round” (Humphry), cf. ey) Ant., ix., 4, 4, ii., 4,1. It is possible that Festus used the expression with a certain delicacy, since in using it he recognises how much wisdom Paul had previously showr (Weiss, Bethge). After such an expres sion of opinion by Festus, and owing to the deference of Agrippa to the Romans, Knabenbauer thinks that the king could not have expressed himself seriously in the words which follow in ver. 28.
Ver.25. Ov µαίνοµαι x. Φ.: whatever may have been the sense in which Fes- tus addressed Paul, there is no doubt as to the courtesy of the Apostle’s answer, μετὰ ἐπιεικείας ἀποκρινόμενος, Chrys. κράτιστε: “most εχοε]]εηπί, R.V., see above, i. 1.---ἀληθ. καὶ σωφροσ.: veritas not veracitas, objective truth ; no suspi- cion had been raised against St. Paul’s truthfulness of character (cf. John xviii. 37); as our Lord stood before Pilate as a witness for the truth, so His Apostle stands face to face with a Roman sceptic as a witness to the existence of a world of real existences and not of mere sha- dows and unrealities (Bethge, p. 294). σωφρ.: the opposite of madness, cf. Plato, Protag., 323 B (Xen., Mem., i., I, 16), ὃ éxet σωφροσύνην ἡγοῦντο εἶναι τἀληθῆ λέγειν, ἐνταῦθα µανίαν. The two nouns are only found here in St. Luke’s writings, but cf. σωφρονεῖν, Luke vili. 35, Rom. xii. 3, 2 Cor. v. 13; cf. ῥήματα ζωῆς, chap. ν. 20.-- ἄποφθ., cf. ii. 4 and 14, of the Pentecostal utterances, and of the solemn utterances of St. Peter; “‘aptum verbum,” Bengel. St. Paul was speaking with boldness like St. Peter, and under the same divine inspiration ; in LXX of the utterances of the prophets, cf. t Chron. xxv. 1, of philosophers, and of oracular responses ; like the Latin profari and pronuntiare, see above on ii. 4, and Grimm-Thayer, sub v.